Please help me figure out why I feel so awful
I was first diagnosed with Sleep apnea back in 2011 and have tried over and over again to get CPAP to work for me. I was given a Phillips Respironics Remstar Pro, which I still have in working condition, and I've tried a bunch of different masks. A couple of years ago I picked up a Phillips DreamWare mask (nose only, no mouth) and found I could actually sleep through the night it but didn't feel any better after using it so I quit again.
The last year for me has been all about getting into better shape an overall health. After doing some research on YouTube and Reddit I've decided to give CPAP one last shot. And I've learned a few things, the most important being that sleep medicine doctors are worthless; if I'm going to see any benefit I'm going to have to manage it on my own because the doctors sure as hell don't care. To that end I'm starting to experiment again, buying new equipment and going in to tweak the settings. And I don't feel any better, some days I just feel my normal tired self and others, like today, I feel like death warmed over. Like, I wanted to go out for lunch but didn't because I'm afraid that I'll kill someone if I try operating a car. I know it can take time to start seeing improvement, that I can tolerate but I don't think I should be feeling worse. I'm going to stick with it, I've committed myself to giving it six months. If I manage to get this fixed, that would be great. If not, I'll just accept that restful sleep is not something I'll ever experience, and toss the machine in the trash.
I've downloaded OSCAR and am trying to interpret the data but there is so much there I'm not sure if it's good or not. My AHI scores are under 5 most nights, never under 3 and sometimes range up as high as 7-8. The pressure is constant, currently at 6 but I've tried tweaking it a bit (between 6-9) to little effect. I think my leak rate is good but I'm not sure, a couple of days ago I added a chin strap to combat mouth leak and am looking into the full face DreamWare but I'm not sure if I need it yet. I'm attaching the last four days of OSCAR data in the hope that someone more experienced can tell me if it's "good" or not, and if it's not what I can do to improve it. I really, really want this to help, I'm tired of feeling tired all the time.
Details on me and my setup:
45yo male, 6'3", 205 lbs (down from 245 this time last year)
I sleep with the DreamWare nasal mask, a sleep mask over my eyes and a basic chin strap to keep my mouth closed.
The last year for me has been all about getting into better shape an overall health. After doing some research on YouTube and Reddit I've decided to give CPAP one last shot. And I've learned a few things, the most important being that sleep medicine doctors are worthless; if I'm going to see any benefit I'm going to have to manage it on my own because the doctors sure as hell don't care. To that end I'm starting to experiment again, buying new equipment and going in to tweak the settings. And I don't feel any better, some days I just feel my normal tired self and others, like today, I feel like death warmed over. Like, I wanted to go out for lunch but didn't because I'm afraid that I'll kill someone if I try operating a car. I know it can take time to start seeing improvement, that I can tolerate but I don't think I should be feeling worse. I'm going to stick with it, I've committed myself to giving it six months. If I manage to get this fixed, that would be great. If not, I'll just accept that restful sleep is not something I'll ever experience, and toss the machine in the trash.
I've downloaded OSCAR and am trying to interpret the data but there is so much there I'm not sure if it's good or not. My AHI scores are under 5 most nights, never under 3 and sometimes range up as high as 7-8. The pressure is constant, currently at 6 but I've tried tweaking it a bit (between 6-9) to little effect. I think my leak rate is good but I'm not sure, a couple of days ago I added a chin strap to combat mouth leak and am looking into the full face DreamWare but I'm not sure if I need it yet. I'm attaching the last four days of OSCAR data in the hope that someone more experienced can tell me if it's "good" or not, and if it's not what I can do to improve it. I really, really want this to help, I'm tired of feeling tired all the time.
Details on me and my setup:
45yo male, 6'3", 205 lbs (down from 245 this time last year)
I sleep with the DreamWare nasal mask, a sleep mask over my eyes and a basic chin strap to keep my mouth closed.
